Don't listen to the negative reviews

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Overall, Forgotten Pistlero is a solid Spaghetti Western – not great, but good enough. Like a lot of the SWs I've seen, the central theme in this one is revenge. The children of a man murdered by his wife and her lover want revenge. It may be a familiar set-up, but Ferdinando Baldi does an excellent job of building interest and tension right to the final moments. Baldi also throws in a lot of other bits that I've come to expect from an entertaining SW – mysterious strangers (Leonard Mann and Pietro Martellanza) with over-the-top gun skills, an impossibly beautiful heroine (played by Pilar Velazquez), a gang of cut-throat killers, and lots and lots of sweaty men. And the film's finale is about as downbeat as you'll find. It's not as dark as something like The Great Silence, but it's definitely not a happy ending. It stuck with me long after the movie ended. Good stuff.A few other thoughts:1. The music, while very good, is often derivative and very Morricone-esque. It will remind you of a dozen other scores - but that's not necessarily a bad thing. 2. The acting is good, but no one really stands out. The highlight of the cast for me has to be Luciana Paluzzi of Thunderball fame. 3. For what seems like a modestly budgeted SW, there are a couple of set-pieces that are exceptionally well filmed. For example, the waltz scene looks like it came out of a film with a budget far exceeding that of Forgotten Pistolero. It's gorgeous. The other is the film's finale. The burning building is another set-piece that's very well done. I'll give Forgotten Pistolero a rock-solid 7/10.

Forgotten Pistolero 1969 was based off a Greek Tragedy and told wonderfully in this Ferdinando Baldi aka Ted Kaplan movie, who did 10 SW movies in his career well known ones such as Blindman, Get Mean, Texas Adios, and Forgotten Pistolero. What is great is the amazing music score that immediately starts by Roberto Pregadio which was used in the movie "Kill Bill". The music really makes a SW movie and the music here really sets the mood. I liked such scenes as when Peter Martell's character Rafael is being hunted down from Mexico into Texas by Miguel (Jose Manuel Martin)who to me has the face and good acting for a small part SW actor that plays Mexican bandit roles to the tee. He finds boyhood friend Sebastian and helps him remember his blocked out past and seek the revenge they both rightfully deserve. It was amazing the ending scene with the Hacienda burning and the music playing and justice being served. You have to see it and will not be sorry....

The DVD I've ordered features the film (Il Pistolero dell'Ave Maria) in its original Italian language. Some aspects of the story may have been changed in the English language version.I will tell you just the very beginning of the story. I only want to give you a taste of the film. There will be no real spoilers (I think).A lone rider going through a canyon. Up on the cliffs horsemen watching him. Close-ups of their faces, hands ready for action. The scene is enhanced by a hauntingly beautiful score.The rider is Rafael (Pietro Martellanza). As a boy he had worked in a hacienda in Mexico. The owner of the hacienda was absent fighting against the french. For those that have no knowledge of the history of Mexico, very simplistically told, the french had invaded Mexico in 1861 and installed Maximilian of Habsburg in power. He became the emperor of Mexico! The french rule lasted until 1867, when the Mexicans led by Benito Juarez, expelled the french and shot the Emperor. Crazy, ain't it? Coming back to the film, Rafael worked in this hacienda that belonged to the Carrasco Family. The patriarch and owner of the hacienda, General Juan Carrasco, was absent fighting against the french. Rafael was the best friend of his (the general's) son Sebastian (Leonard Mann), and loved and was loved by Sebastian's sister, Isabella (Pilar Velazquez). Children, the three of them. But while General Carrasco was away fighting the french, his wife Ana (Luciana Paluzzi) was having an affair with the hacienda's foreman, Tomas (Alberto de Mendoza). After the french had been defeated, General Carrasco returns home and is received in high style by everyone in the hacienda. A party is held to commemorate his return. Suddenly... betrayal and tragedy.The characters are scattered to the four winds. Years pass and the dust seems to have settled down, but a chance meeting will rekindle old memories. The day of reckoning has arrived.This story almost seems a Mexican melodrama, but it's filmed with a grandeur and style that's unique. The party that is held in homage to General Carrasco, when he returns from the war, with its dancing, singing and eating, is flamboyantly portrayed. The same holds true for the scene in which a character enters a small Mexican village where a celebration is taking place in the streets ... firecrackers, people laughing, singing ... Then the saloon, with wild and beautiful women dancing barefoot on the counter... Ferdinando Baldi is very skilled in telling a story by way of images - editing, framing, close-ups, music ... everything adds up to create the right atmosphere and the proper emotion. It's true that sometimes he goes overboard, as he proved with the completely over-the-top film's ending, that's so operatic, so melodramatic, as to put even the wildest Mexican melodramas to shame.A good, well-told story featuring beautiful women (Luciana Paluzzi, Pilar Velazques and many others), sunny, dry landscapes, and a wonderful soundtrack. I didn't like so much the ending, though, with its fire and brimstones conclusion, but this is a matter of taste. Highly recommended if you like your spaghetti hot and wild.

Out of all the spaghetti westerns I've seen (and there are probably three dozen of them, so far), this would easily rank among the top five, and for several reasons: 1. The story is engaging, action-packed, and well written, with lots of twists and turns. This is a spaghetti western with a mystery, and I like that.2. The acting is exceptional, all around. The bad guys play their parts so well that you can't wait for them to "get theirs". Especially good is Luciana Paluzzi, Peter Martell, Pilar Velazquez, and Leonard Mann. Martell is so good that he often upstages them all.3. The photography, costumes, sets, and music really add to the film. In short, if you like spaghetti westerns, you'll like this one.